


Delayed Affection

by Senyoun



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Dw this work will continue, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I am just busy so chapters will take a bit, Masturbation, One-Sided Attraction, Panic Attacks, Re-developing of friendship, Toxic friendship, Unhealthy Friendship, Unrequited Love, smut in later chapters, therapy sessions, unhealthy relationship, wet dreams
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-10-15 05:32:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17522810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senyoun/pseuds/Senyoun
Summary: A toxic friendship and a unrequited love forced you to leave your previous life. After countless sessions with your therapist and support from people you never expected to get you slowly started to heal. But when your -still- love of your life decided to move to the city, all your wounds started to open up...





	1. Witnesses of Time

_"Scars are the witnesses of time. They will follow you all your life and make you remember your mistakes."_

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell me about your past friendship with Ms. Reynolds, (Y/N)."

Sitting in the comfortable but cold leather chair you starred into your hands you folded and unfolded nervously. You eyed the woman seated across from you carefully and somehow pleading, maybe she would change her question to something more... comfortable. It was obvious that sooner or later Dr. Robin would address the difficult topics and Meg, or how the therapist called her, "Ms. Reynolds" was such a topic you would rather avoid talking about. By merely hearing that woman´s name lots of different and also opposing emotions started to boil up deep within in your body.

"Didn´t we already go through that? There is not much to talk about it anyway. We were best friends until I realised I was nothing more than a tool for her. She used me to make herself look better in front of others. She´s a slu-"

"Ah, ah, language, (Y/N). We are civilized and won´t put ourselfs on the same level as the people who hurt us." Dr. Robin interfered and after murmuring a quiet ´Sorry´, you continued: "She is... a woman who enjoyed snatching the things I wanted right under my nose. When I told her about a dress I thought of pretty, she bought it to herself 2 days later. When I wanted to get a new haircut, she got it first. And do you know what the worst is? She always surpassed me. The dress I liked, she was stunning in it. The haircut? She rocked it better than I ever could. All I aimed for, she was always first and better in it than me." You didn´t know when you started to get mad or when you began to clench your fists into the leather seat. You hated yourself for still letting that get so close and you also wondered why, did you now know what kind of human waste Meghan was.

Putting her pen on the lips the raven-haired therapist thoroughly observed her client. "You were saying "what the worst _is_ ". Do you still consider her as superior?"

Shooting your gaze to the therapist as if you were caught off guard, you nearly gasped at that question. "Of course not!" You hesitated and bit your lip before going on, "But I can´t deny that she still has something, someone I wanted so much. She could´ve taken everything from me. All the clothes, all the things. But she decided to take _him_ as well. And that is what will make her always superior to me. Also because he chose her since, again, Meghan was faster than me."

"You are talking about Zoro, right? I assume you are trying to avoid any thought of him, is that the reason why you refuse to use his name?" And after you nodded sadly Robin added: "But what strikes me as odd: I learned a lot about Zoro´s character from your previous stories. You are still not ready to talk about him directly, but to me it doesn´t make sense how he could even fall for someone as Ms. Reynolds?"

Lowering your head, you starred at your thighs. You lost a lot of weight in these past 5 years, hunger simply wasn´t present and in the first months all nutrition you took to yourself was puked out some hours later. Instead your alcohol consumption increased a lot but thankfully you started to get slowly rid of this unhealthy habit. Exasperated you decided to answer the Therapist´s question. "Meghan has a really unique talent: She wraps everyone around her finger. She is very good at manipulating people, I mean, I am the prime example, right? Even headstrong and cautious people like him are an easy prey for her."

Satisfied with the answer, Dr. Robin started a different topic. "Tell me how you met Ms. Reynolds."

Taking a deep breath and collecting all the courage you had you started to speak.

_Now that you stood in front of the still closed classroom door, your anxiety reached a new high and restlessly you plucked on the hem of your skirt. Today was your first day at the East Blue Middle School and you would prefer to just sink into the ground than going into the -with lots of strangers filled- classroom. But you promised your mom to not cause any problems and you really didn´t want to upset her, so when the teacher opened the door and winked you in, you held your breath and stepped in._

_It was lunch break when she approached you. The brown-haired girl was wearing twin-tails which fell over her shoulder and on the desk she was supporting herself with. She starred down at you with a big smile. "Hi, I´m Meghan but you can call me Meg. Welcome to Class 1-C! I hope we can be good friends in the future!"_

_"I swear to god maths is killing me. Who needs something as useless and overly complicated as Integrals? I mean where in daily life would you need that anyway?" Meghan was walking besides you sighing painfully. She pushed out her big chest annoyed. You giggled slightly. "After the exams you can forget about Maths anyway." Upon hearing those words Meghan swayed with her hips. "I can´t wait to get out of school and into university." She turned to you smirking. "And I can´t wait for us to move into our own apartment, we´re gonna be the coolest commune on the campus! Also..." Meghan licked her lips seductively. "... I can´t wait to lay my eyes and fingers on the boys." Now it was your turn to sigh. "As long as you don´t forget to keep studying." The Brunette grinned. "That´s what I have you for, (Y/N). You will help me out if I need you, right?" Her gaze was intense and after some moments you answered somehow intimidated. "S-sure."_

Dr. Robin listened carefully and occasionally wrote something in her notebook. "I see. Did the friendship start to crumble when Zoro came into your lives? Or did something happen before?" She shifted in her seat and eyed you carefully, waiting for a reaction.

The Doc was a tall and beautiful women with long, black hair and hazel eyes which gave off a friendly and warm feeling. She was someone you know you can trust and can talk to. When you first came into her practice for your first session, you immediately felt that you could even entrust your darkest secrets to this woman, hell, the Doc would most likely even join you for a murder. Sometimes, when topics became rather difficult for you to talk about, Dr. Robin knew exactly what buttons to push to make you spill what she wanted to know. The sessions were rough with her but you were thankful for the Doc´s direct attitude. Dr. Robin doesn´t talk things pretty, she states out even the most uncomfortable facts and it was not unusual that you started to cry like a baby in some of the sessions.

"I honestly don´t know. I mean, when we went through puberty both of us changed, I guess. She became more and more confident since her body was pretty well developed and she has always been popular with the boys. And I... well I just became more..."

"... submissive? Obeying?" Dr. Robin ended your sentence.

You stayed silent and played around with your hands again. You couldn´t deny the truth of it as much as it hurt and before you could think of anything to reply to the Doc, latter spoke again.

"Where you scared of her? Were you afraid of the things she eventually could´ve done to you if you disobeyed?"

Shrugging, you impatiently pulled at your fingers. You knew that the Doc studied your body language just as much as your verbal answers so there was no need to actually say something. Closing her eyes and smiling softly, Dr. Robin stood up. "I think we made good progress today." Walking over to you the black-haired woman placed a hand on your shoulder in a soothing way. "Let´s continue there next week, shall we?"

\------------

While you were sitting in the tram on your way to the office, you thought about Dr. Robin´s last words.

_´Where you scared of her?´_

You were. After you two moved into your shared apartment, Meghan started to finalise her authority over you and you were at her mercy, not able to do anything. And when he became part of your lives it only got worse since you didn´t want to give Meghan any area she could attack, and in front of him you also wanted to leave a good impression. You wondered what he thought really of you, did he only see you as the friend of his girlfriend all this time? Did he consider you as friend of him? 

Geez, you hated the post-session hours. Your thoughts went completely on rampage and made you forget your principles, for example to waste any thoughts at all on him. It only hurt you in the end and caused you sleepless nights you spend with crying into your pillow.

When the robot-like voice announced the trams arrival at Blue Water Station, you forced yourself back into reality and made your way to the exit. From here on it would only be a good 10-minute walk to your workplace and some fresh air would help to lift your spirits, even if it was just for a bit. Though you had to admit, the work at the Galley-La Company really did help a lot coping with your anxieties and depressions. And of course your broken heart.

The Galley-La Company became famous in the 17th century as one of the largest ship-building companies in the city and to adapt to the industrialization in the 18th century they changed their business model to architecture. And nowadays the company is responsible for most of the buildings which were built in the vast city. When you were about to graduate from University you took the chance to apply for the assistance job the company was offering. Not only was this a huge step in your future career in architecture, it was also your long-awaited possibility to leave. You couldn´t believe it when the chef, Iceburg, told you after your interview that you convinced him to be the right choice for it. Especially, since you were directly working under him.

It was also Iceburg that got you on top of Dr. Robins way too long waiting list. Despite trying your best to keep your depressions and anxiety out of her workplace and at home, you one day bursted out in tears when you messed up the model of a new Health Care Center Iceburg was working on. But instead of scolding you, Iceburg helped you out of your panic attack and talked you through it. When some of your colleagues told you that Iceburg treats his employees like his family, they weren´t exaggerating.

Waving to the twin-receptionists Mozu and Kiwi, you went to the elevators, which carried you to the floor where your office was. The elevator was entirely empty besides you and especially after sessions you were happy to just listen to the lame elevator music before the turmoil of daily life came haunting you. Stepping out of the elevator you were greeted by a tall, blonde man who looked way too stressed for his own good. "Morning, Paulie, going for a smoke?" The addressed man sighed exhausted and scratched the back of his head. "Morning, (Y/N). Don´t ask, it´s only 10 am and I´m already done with everything and everyone for the day. We have way too much work. Anyway, see you later at lunchtime." Poor man, being Iceburgs head-engineer surely was an exhausting job since that man could come up with some really crazy stuff which Paulie had to put into reality.

"Good Morning, (Y/N)! How is Robin doing?" Someone approached you as soon as you stepped through the door of the main office. Iceburg was leaning against Kalifa´s desk and both looked up when they heard someone entering. Before answering, you took off your coat and placed your handbag on your desk. You were thankful, Iceburg didn´t ask how you were feeling on your session-days. Not that you could´ve given him a proper answer anyway. "I think she´s doing good. She doesn´t really talk about herself, so her private life is more or less a mystery to me. But she seemed to be happy with the progress we made today, so..." You shrugged but Iceburgs eyes lightened up, he came over to you and placed both of his hands on your shoulders. "That sounds really good, I´m happy for you!" Kalifa who still sat on her desk adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes: "Direct body contact without getting permission of the employee, thats sexual harrassment." she stated bluntly and Iceburg shuddered upon her words. You, though, waved it off. "It´s fine, Kalifa."

The following hours went by without any exciting events. You finished transfering some paper-plans to the computer and constructed the 3D-Model for it and during lunch time you tried to take part into some daily conversations your colleagues held. It was around 5 p.m. when you decided to call it a day and made your way home. Saying your goodbye´s to Iceburg and Kalifa who both tended to work until late in the evening -damn workaholics-, you stepped out of the large building and instantly pulled your warm scarf deeper into your face. The late afternoons really started to get cold and if not for the city lights everything would´ve been engulfed in darkness. How the Starks used to say: Winter is coming.

Drawing a comparison, you decided that it has been a good day. Sure, your early morning session with Dr. Robin has been exhausting, but your work and the constant, but somehow cute, bickering between Iceburg and Kalifa made up for it. You managed to eat most of your lunch and you drank a lot of water. As soon as you would come home you would take a nice relaxing bath and end the day with a good book. You smiled -for the first time in a while-, your nose and cheeks slightly red from the cold, you strolled out of the tram station which was closest to your apartment.

You just turned around the corner when you saw _him_ standing there. And the whole world seemed to freeze. With a pale face and wide eyes you starred at him, frozen at your spot, talking to two men which seemed to be his friends. There goes your good mood. You wanted to run away or hide but the sheer sight of him turned your legs into stone and you were unable to move. Your heart hammered in your chest and cold sweat made its way down your spin, setting off a weird contrast to your bodyheat. You tried to calm your breathing as the Doc taught you, else you would run into the danger of hyperventilating and just as you closed your eyes to soothe yourself and opened them again, your gazes met.

Over the range of approximately 15 meters (E/C) eyes looked into grey ones which looked more surprised than shocked. You saw his, still so kissable, lips moving but the chattering and traffic noises of the environment made it impossible for you to hear his words. Not that you wanted to hear them. You wanted to get away, as far away as possible, somewhere where you don´t have to see him, even though, at the same time, there was nothing more you wanted. He gestured something to his friends and started to move towards you with fast steps. That´s when reality finally woke up your senses and your legs seemed to function again. You turned around and dived into the sea of people, desperately trying to escape his gaze and his entire being before he could even reach out to you.

Closing the door to your apartment behind you, you sank down to your knees, trying to catch your breath. You practically ran all the way to your apartment, taking small detours to stay out of sight. Thank God that man had a way too bad sense of orientation.

_Why is he here?_

This question kept echoing in your head and only when you felt your face being wet, you realised you had started to cry uncontrollably. With shaking deep breaths you tried again to calm yourself and after a while you were able to stand up, take off your shoes and coat and pull out your phone to dial Dr. Robins number with shivering fingers.

\-------------

"Oi, you have been searching now for nearly an hour, Zoro. She´s gone." The raven-haired man slapped him on the back, trying to compensate his friend. "Shit! I never expected her to be here out of all places. And damn, she´s fast. I need to find her, Luffy!" Zoro gasped between his heavy breaths and braced the hands on his knees. The man named ´Luffy´raised an eyebrow. "What´s your relation with her, anyway?" The Greenette erected himself and sternly looked into the distance where you had run off to. _"She is the one I should´ve choosen instead."_


	2. Destiny is a bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can I say? I´m a moody writer. My muse comes and goes whenever she likes.

_"She is not responding, I called her and sent her messages. Nothing. She can´t just disappear, right?" Meghan impatiently ran up and down in the living room, constantly looking at her phone. Zoro was sitting on the couch, his laptop placed in front of him. "I checked her social media, she deleted all of her accounts.", he turned to his girlfriend. "What the hell is going on?"_

_The two were out on lunch when Meghan decided to drop by your apartment since you guys haven´t seen each other for a while. But instead of you they found your landlord showing the entirely empty flat to some strangers. Confused and shocked the Brunette asked the man where you went. "She moved out a week ago."_

_"I can´t believe she just left without saying a word! How egoistic can someone be?!" Meghans grip around her phone tightened. "She just threw our long-term friendship away as if it were nothing!" Enraged, she threw herself on the sofa next to Zoro who watched her worried. "Babe, you don´t know what exactly what happened. Don´t leap into conclusions too fast." Meghan raised her head as if he just said something offending. Jumping from her seat, she crossed her arms and starred down at him furiously. "Are you taking that snitch´s side?"_

Setting down the barbell, Zoro sat up and reached for his towel. He cursed himself for letting these memories playing in his head again. That day, his relationship started to break down. If he only had realised some things about his ex earlier, he and especially you wouldn´t have been hurt so much. Seeing you again on the street a few days ago brought back a lot of passed emotions and since then he had problems focusing. But why did you run away from him? Thinking about it again, though, he could maybe understand your reaction. After all he blamed himself for not recognizing Meghans true face and he hated himself for letting that woman do with him what she wanted.  
But he was able to end that toxic relationship and get away from her. Well, it did take him nearly 5 years to really throw her out of his life. It was hard when you shared the same friends with your ex and your job demanded you to stay in town. During the past years he was constantly stressed and mentally exhausted and when Meghan slowly started to turn his old friends against him by twisting the truth about their relationship, Zoro had enough and decided it was time to leave. He remembered how relieved he felt when his boss approved his transfer to the city. And it seemed like destiny had another surprise in store for him. He never expected to get transfered to that place you had fled to. 

He knew he had to find you, he wanted to make things up to you for your both´s sake. There were just so many things he needed to tell you. But where should he start searching? This city was big as hell and he surely didn´t know where he should start looking for you, not talking about his lack of orientation. Zoro went to the bar to get his bottle refilled when he caught eye of familiar blonde hair. The man sat on his barstool, with a red face and starred at a nearby group of women. "They are too revealing!" he silently cursed, fists clenched. Zoro observed the situation amused. "This is a gym. Do you expect them to wear fullboy clothes?" The man turned around, looking for the source of the voice and scratched his head embarrassed when he saw the tall male leaning next to him. "Of course not, but these shorts are way too.... short. You know what I mean?" Zoro didn´t know what he meant. Though he always prefered casual clothes on women since he, himself also was more the casual type. Besides, Zoro didn´t really care much about how someone dressed, as long as they are someone they can get along with. 

"The name´s Paulie, by the way." the man reached out his hand and grinned. Shaking his hand Zoro introduced himself and Paulie raised an eyebrow. "I never saw you around. Are you new here?" The Greenette nodded. "Just moved here a few weeks ago. The police department needed some support." Paulie surprised widened his eyes. To him, Zoro didn´t look like a Cop, actually he gave off some scary vibes and hell, Paulie didn´t want to be in the same room as the Greenette when hes mad, but hey, appearances can be wicked. Zoro noticed the intense observation of the other but didn´t say anything. He was used to people not thinking of him as a defender of law and order. His previous friends even had a running gag going that Zoro most likely arrives to any incident too late thanks to his lack of orientation. And as much as Zoro hated it to admit, they weren´t entirely wrong with that. His first weeks were awful and it went so far, that his partner refused to let him take the wheel. However, modern technology brought him a gift of the gods: The Navigation System, and damn, was this small box of wonders a revolution for Zoro. Sure, he still sometimes missed turns or took the wrong one but overall it improved his arrival time a lot. 

"Anyway, I hope you had a good arrival here and enjoy it. This city is big but its a really nice playce, I was raised here and I intend to get buried in here." Paulie smiled and rose from his seat. "I gotta go now, still have a lot of work to do. I hope to see you around more often from now on." Clapping on Zoro´s shoulder, Paulie grabbed his watterbottle and made his way to the changing rooms, raising his hand for farewell. He certainly was a weird guy, but after all he seemed to be fine and Zoro was glad he had now at least one familiar face in here. 

Since he moved, Zoro totally let himself be consumed by work and occasional gym visits. He wasn´t particularly fond of getting to know new people right now, he even maintained a healthy distance to his new colleagues. He kept it professional and didn´t share more private details than he had to, to make them stop asking -to him- uncomfortable questions. Before he would surround himself with new people, he wanted to get his life straight again. Leaving everything behind and moving to a new, unfamiliar city was never easy. But it was still better than being in the same place as that woman. Instead, he moved to your place. Zoro still couldn´t believe it. You, who had disappeared without any hints left behind, were in this city. 

The thought of you, again, brought him back to the question: How should he be able to find you? He couldn´t just drive around randomly, in hope you would stray across his path a second time. Using his databank at work was a dead end as well, not even mentioning that it was illegal for him since he didn´t have the authorization to access these kind of datas. So, what to do? Zoro also refused to let destiny decide over it again, he wanted to take the matter in his own hand. He rubbed the back of his hand and furrowed the brows while walking to the changing rooms. There was no use thinking about it now, his shift was starting in an hour and his focus on work was his priority now. 

Usually his shifts were pretty chill. Sure, the paperwork was pretty dull, answering calls and handling lost items was boring as hell and to be honest he hated writing reports. But when he gets called to a active crime scene, encountering unknown situations and simply jumping into the unknown, the adrenaline and thrill cursing through his body, all of these things simply make him love this job. Obviously he wanted to improve his rank but being the ´new guy´ will take him some years to achieve this dream. Well, now that he was finally free from his previous struggles and problems in his life he didn´t really care. 

He took a shower, changed into his uniform and made his way to the exit when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he looked into Paulie´s face. "I know we literally just met 20 minutes ago but you seem like a nice guy to hang out with. Wanna come with me and some colleagues tonight, grabbing some beer?" _´And you look as if you could need a friend.´_ Zoro was always up for beer and booze but was he already up for company? He may be distant to his colleagues but that didn´t necessarily mean he had to be to other people. If it really turned out to be too much or too annoying to him, he could still go back to his lone life. "Sure." 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If he gives me another impossible task, I´m gonna fucking quit. U know I´m just a human, I can´t just do stuff thats physically not realiseable." Paulie babbled, downing his -already- sixth beer. Zoro was still uncertain when he entered the local pub but when he got to know Paulie´s colleagues Tilestone and Lulu and listened to the Blonde´s drunken babbling he realised how much he missed some company which hasn´t anything to do with work. Just talking with other people about whatever comes up.

"You are the head engineer, of course the boss comes to you with any ideas he has. He´s busy enough with other things." Tilestone chuckled and tapped Paulie´s shoulder maybe a bit too hard. Looking up with a red face Paulie gave him a "are you serious?!" face. "This man´s living the life, I tell u, guys. He comes up with the ideas, I have to turn them into reality, he´s not the one being fucked when its not working, ya know?" He takes another sip of his beer the waitress just brought him. "And he has two sexy as fuck secretaries he can look at all day." Paulie dropped his face on the desk surface. Lulu, who has been quiet for a whole while, now raised his voice. "Paulie, you could have a girlfriend as well but you are way too shy for it." Zoro smirked. "I second this. We met in the gym while he was grudingly and red-faced starring at a group of women who wore shorts for training." Tilestone broke out in laughter and ruffled Paulie´s hair. "That sounds just like you, buddy." 

"Besides, Paulie. Only Kalifa is Iceburg´s secretary. (Y/N) is her assistant."

When he heard your name Zoro´s smirk faded. _Wait, what?_ Was it really you or just someone who shared the same name? The coincidence would be too big, right? But he had to at least confirm it. "Why does a secretary need an assistant?" Zoro tried to sound casual and surprised, to his luck nobody seemed to see through his intentions. God thank intoxication. "Kalifa is the secretary of one of the most busiest men in the city. She has way too much to do so she requested for an assistant she could share some of the tasks with. (Y/N) does mainly architectural stuff. After all she wants to become one later on." Oh fuck, it _WAS_ you. 

This was so weird. In the morning he decided he wanted to take things in his own hand and now it seems like destiny is making fun of him. Or rather this bastard likes to be first. But who the fuck cares, he found you. Now he just had to take care of not coming off as a stalker while he got more info on you. Maybe exactly this thought process already was one of a stalker. On the other hand he needed to see you, he wanted to explain himself, apologize to you and make it up to you. That´s what you deserved, it was what he owed you. 

"I guess Paulie whined enough about his life. Zoro you´re new around here? What dragged you to our beautiful city?" Tilestone faced the Greenette and smiled at him expectantly. Still lost in his thoughts Zoro scratched his head. "There´s not much to tell actually." Paulie who everyone thought had passed out raised his head again. "Come on, bruh. Give us your lifestory. We´re all friends here, right guys?" Zoro sighed with a faint smile. His colleagues asked him the same questions and he gave them the same answer. But since he was here nobody ever insisted to tell them who he actually was. Paulie really was a good guy after all. "Fine. My Ex practically started a witchhunt against me so I had to leave my old town." Lulu winced at his words. "Sounds ugly. What did you do to get her this mad?" Zoro sighed again, this time louder and then he started to talk. 

_"I´m home." Despite knowing that she was home Zoro got no answer. "Then not, I guess." He shook of his jacket and shoes and got into the kitchen. Meghan sat on the couch, smartphone in her hands and didn´t even look up when her -still- boyfriend passed by. He couldn´t quiet see what she was looking at on her phone but judging from her smirk it must be something juicy. He couldn´t help the slight yell of distrust which echoed through his head. He knew Meghan. And he knew their relationship was over. So he said, what he wanted to say for months now. "I´m going to move out." Now Meghan reacted. She blinked, smiled, stood up and walked past him. "It was about time." Completely dazed from her cold response he turned around and starred at her. And then he caught a glimpse of her smartphone screen and saw the white letters on the pinkish-red background. **tinder** _

Tilestone had his mouth wide open and Paulie and Lulu watched Zoro with big eyes when he spoke.  
"What a bitch." Tilestone said.  
"Dude, she´s worse than a bitch." Paulie added.  
"How the hell did you met that woman?" Lulu asked.  
Zoro laughed, trying to play it down. During his talk he never mentioned you, simply out of cautiousness. He didn´t mean to make this evening even more about him than it already was "I got to know her through a friend. I met that friend first and met Meghan shortly after it. Now that I think of it. Shittiest day of my life." Zoro shrugged and emptied his glass.

Despite getting confronted again with all these dark memories it felt good talking about it. Back then nobody listened to his side of the story after Meghan influenced their friends too much. He kept carrying this package alone and after a time it really started to get heavy. But now he felt a bit more relieved. After all it was a good idea to accept Paulie´s invitation. Also, because he knew now where to look for you. The world was way too small, who would´ve thought Zoro will become friends with one of your colleagues? 

Zoro took his jacket and got up. "All right, I´ve got an early shift tomorrow so I´m gonna call it a day, guys." He put some money on the table to cover his tab and tapped Paulie´s shoulder. "Thanks for having me. Call me again when you guys go out, it was fun." He raised his hand at the other two and made his way out of the pub. Hiding his hands in the pockets of his jacket to protect them from the cold air outside he couldn´t help but to grin. _Galley-La, huh?_


End file.
